National Research and Training Center (NRTC)

/ Management & Board

Management

Board

The UIC NRTC National Advisory Board (NAB) consists of mental health consumer/survivors,
researchers, educators, family members, consultants, trainers, and advocates
with extensive experience in the area of psychiatric disability. The NAB
meets annually with UIC NRTC staff to review progress on projects, provide
feedback and advice, and assist with dissemination activities. The Board's
involvement is invaluable in furthering the UIC NRTC's mission and widening
our audience to include a variety of constituencies.

Members of the NAB

T. Arthur, M.Ed., M.A.

T. E. Arthur, currently the Manager of Consumer, Family and Public Affairs
at Maryland Health Partners, has extensive experience in the mental health
field. He has directed several Psychiatric Rehabilitation Programs in Maryland
and Out Patient/Partial Hospitalization Programs in Washington D.C. He
has held office on various Boards including the Maryland Association of
Psychiatric Support Services (MAPSS), USPRA (formerly IAPSRS), Mental
Health Association of Maryland, Maryland Works and other advocacy organizations.
He has been a long time Associate Professor at several colleges in Maryland
as well as conducted many mental health workshops on such topics as employment,
expressive arts, stigma, cultural diversity, managed care and other related
issues. He was a contributing author to the Surgeon General's
Report on Mental Health on the topic of cultural diversity.

Mary Ann Beall

Mary Ann Beall, a person who has had severe psychiatric
disabilities since early childhood, has been an outspoken advocate for
effective services and humane treatment for people with psychiatric disabilities.
In her home state of Virginia, she served on the Grants Review Panel for
the Virginia Mental Health Planning Council which awarded Block Grant Funds
to seven consumer-run programs, she was the first person with major mental
illness to serve on the State Mental Health Board and is the founding president
of the Virginia Mental Health Consumers Association. Nationally, she sits
on the Task Force on Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Psychiatric
Disabilities for RSA and NIDRR, and she is a member of the Women, Violence
and Mental Health Technical Expert Group for CSAT, CMHS and NWRC. She is
the NAMI National Policy Chair, and was the second consumer elected to
the NAMI National Board. She is also an artist and artisan, a potter, a
glass worker, and designs and makes her own jewelry.

Joe Bevilacqua, Ph.D.

Dr. Bevilacqua, currently a private consultant, has
over 30 years of experience working in the mental health field. He has
served as a state commissioner of mental health in three states during
his long, distinguished career. He serves on a number of Advisory Boards
in addition to the NRTC NAB, including the Human Services Research Institute
(HSRI), Green Door Psychosocial Program, and NAMI Rhode Island. Recent
project collaborations have been with The Commission on Mental Health Services
in Washington, DC, Mississippi Families as Allies, the North Carolina Institute
of Medicine, and the Erna Yaffe Foundation in Providence, RI. Dr. Bevilacqua
is a long time advocate for the rights of individuals with mental illness.

Caroline L. Kaufmann,
Ph.D.

Dr. Kaufmann is a researcher and consumer advocate
in mental health and disabilities. She has served on the faculties of the
University of Pittsburgh and the University of South Florida before returning
to private practice as a consultant. She serves on the advisory boards
of the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) and the Public Health Advocate
Steering Committee for the American Public Health Association. She has
numerous publications relevant to consumer-run mental health services,
informed consent to psychiatric treatment, and employment of people with
disabilities. Dr. Kaufmann is a person with disabilities and a consumer
of mental health services.

Harriet P. Lefley, Ph.D.

Dr. Lefley, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University
of Miami School of Medicine, has over 30 years experience in mental
health research, training, and services. She serves on a number of
national advisory and editorial boards, has refereed for nineteen scientific
journals, and is author or co-editor of seven books and over 100 articles
or book chapters on community mental health, cross-cultural issues, and
services for persons with severe mental illness and their families. Dr.
Lefley was formerly chair of the NAMI Curriculum and Training Committee
and a founder of her local and state NAMI groups.She has a family member
with long-term schizophrenia and
continues to be involved in consumer advocacy, family education,
and training psychiatric residents in models of psychiatric rehabilitation.

Rev. Laura L. Mancuso, MS, CRC

Rev. Mancuso serves the mental health community in California as an interfaith chaplain. She has worked in leadership roles in public mental health at the local, state, and national level for 20 years. She traveled to twenty states to train 8,000 mental health consumers, family members, business people, legal advocates, and mental health and rehabilitation practitioners on the application the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to workers with psychiatric disabilities. She published "Case Studies on Reasonable Accommodations for Workers with Psychiatric Disabilities" in 1993; authored a federal government report entitled, "People with Psychiatric Disabilities, Employment, and the ADA" in 1996; wrote "Successful Employment of Consumers in the Mental Health Workforce" in 1997; co-edited NASMHPD's "Technical Assistance ToolKit on Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabilities" in 1999; and served as Project Manager with the Santa Barbara County Department of Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services from 1994 to 2007. She is a member of the Statewide Steering Committee of the California Mental Health and Spirituality Initiative, and served as the Initiative's Founding Director from 2008 to 2010. She is a trained Spiritual Director, a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, and ordained minister who strives to honor all faith traditions, as well as the spiritual paths and life philosophies of those who do not adhere to any religion.

Joan Nobiling, M.A..

Joan L. Nobiling, MSEd. is currently employed as
a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner/Educator at Family Service of
Rochester, Inc.'s Main Street Intensive Psychiatric Rehabilitation Treatment
Program (IPRT). Joan has over 30 years of experience in the Mental Health
Field as a consumer, volunteer, advocate, and provider of services. Currently,
Joan is field-testing Taking Charge, a self-help coping skills program
in the Rochester area in conjunction with the NYAPSRS Recovery and Rehabilitation
Training Collective. In addition to the UIC NRTC NAB, Joan also participates
on several other Boards and Committees, including Matrix Research
and Training Institute Community Review Group and Advisory Committee, NMHA
Prevention Committee, and DePaul, Inc. Honorary Board. She serves
as the Treasurer of the National C/S/X Coalition. For the past 25 years,
Joan has been leading a weekly Recovery, Inc. group meeting. Joan
received the 1994 IAPSRS Consumer Advocate of the Year award, as well as
being honored for her work by the Mental Health Coalition of Rochester,
New York, which presents an annual Joan Nobiling Consumer Empowerment Award.

Alberto Santos, M.D.

Dr. Santos earned an undergraduate degree in psychology
and a masters degree in experimental psychology from USC in Columbia, and
subsequently received his medical education and psychiatry residency training
at MUSC in Charleston. After a fellowship at the NIMH Psychiatry Education
Branch, he returned to Charleston to join the faculty at MUSC where he
is currently Professor and Director of Residency Training in psychiatry.
Dr Santos is a member of the American College of Psychiatrists, a fellow
of the APA, and an examiner for the American Boards of Psychiatry and Neurology.
His current research activities focus on innovative community-based
services and are supported by several NIMH Services Research grants.
He is arguably best known as founder and drummer for "The Psychodynamics
- The World's Only All-Psychiatrist Rock and Roll Band."

Andrea Schmook

Andrea Schmook, who self-identifies as a recovered mental
patient, is a private consultant working in Anchorage, Alaska. Formerly
she was Chief of Consumer Affairs of the Illinois DHS-Office of Mental
Health. She serves on several advisory boards and is a member and board
secretary of the National Consumer/Survivor Mental Health Administrators.
An example of initiatives that she headed up were hiring Consumer Specialists
within 9 state hospitals, providing TA to community agencies on hiring
consumers/ survivors, and developing "The Recovery Vision" for Illinois. In addition, she provides consulting, technical assistance, and workshop and training, and keynote speaking around the country.